The prior art has put forth several designs for vehicle sunroofs. Among these are:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,090 to David L. Draper describes an externally retractable sunroof assembly on a vehicle roof between side doors of the type having upper window frames that continue the contour of the roof. A roof opening in the outer roof panel has forward and rearward edges and has side edges exposing the interior of the roof side rails in which a pair of tracks are respectively mounted. A sunroof has side edges respectively mounted by the pair of tracks within the side rails and is movable between a closed position closing the roof opening and an externally retracted position above the outer roof panel to the rear of the roof opening. The sunroof has the side edges thereof in the closed position juxtaposed with respect to the upper window frames of the side doors to provide a continuous door to door appearance. In a preferred construction, the sunroof is made from metal or glass.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,665 to Hisao Ichinose, Yoshimitsu Takeda, Tsuyoshi Sato, Hiroshi Imai describes a sliding and tilting sunroof structure whose overall height is kept relatively small by using an actuating linkage with sliding front and rear guides with a pivoting link extending from each guide to the sunroof panel. A rear portion of the front link is additionally guided by a front portion of the rear guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,314,246 to Arthur L. MacNee, III and Christopher J. Dullivio describes a multi panel sunroof employing at least three movable sunroof panels. In another aspect of the present invention, three sunroof panels are stacked upon each other in one or two different operating positions. A further aspect of the present invention provides for rearward opening movement of a front sunroof panel and forward opening movement of a rear sunroof panel.
None of these prior art references describe the present invention.